About Laravel Enum

Simple, extensible and powerful enumeration implementation for Laravel.

• Enum key value pairs as class constants
• Full featured suite of methods
• Enum instantiation
• Flagged/Bitwise enums
• Type hinting
• Attribute casting
• Enum artisan generator
• Validation rules for passing enum key or values as input parameters
• Localization support
• Extendable via Macros

Created by Ben Sampson

Jump To

• Guide
• Installation
• Enum Library
• Basic Usage
  • Enum definition
  • Instantiation
  • Instance Properties
  • Instance Equality
  • Type Hinting
• Flagged/Bitwise Enum
• Attribute Casting
• Migrations
• Validation
• Localization
• Overriding the getDescription method
• Extending the Enum Base Class
• Laravel Nova Integration
• PHPStan Integration
• Artisan Command List
• Enum Class Reference
• Stubs

Documentation for older versions

You are reading the documentation for 3.x.

• If you're using Laravel 7 or below, please see the docs for 2.x.
• If you're using Laravel 6 or below, please see the docs for 1.x.

Please see the upgrade guide for information on how to upgrade to the latest version.

Guide

I wrote a blog post about using laravel-enum: https://sampo.co.uk/blog/using-enums-in-laravel

Installation

Requirements

• Laravel 8 or higher
• PHP 7.3 or higher

Via Composer

composer require bensampo/laravel-enum

Enum Library

Browse and download from a list of commonly used, community contributed enums.

Enum library →

Basic Usage

Enum Definition

You can use the following Artisan command to generate a new enum class:

php artisan make:enum UserType

Now, you just need to add the possible values your enum can have as constants.

<?php

namespace App\Enums;

use BenSampo\Enum\Enum;

final class UserType extends Enum
{
    const Administrator = 0;
    const Moderator = 1;
    const Subscriber = 2;
    const SuperAdministrator = 3;
}

That's it! Note that because the enum values are defined as plain constants, you can simple access them like any other class constant.

UserType::Administrator // Has a value of 0

Instantiation

It can be useful to instantiate enums in order to pass them between functions with the benefit of type hinting.

Additionally, it's impossible to instantiate an enum with an invalid value, therefore you can be certain that the passed value is always valid.

For convenience, enums can be instantiated in multiple ways:

// Standard new PHP class, passing the desired enum value as a parameter
$enumInstance = new UserType(UserType::Administrator);

// Same as the constructor, instantiate by value
$enumInstance = UserType::fromValue(UserType::Administrator);

// Use an enum key instead of its value
$enumInstance = UserType::fromKey('Administrator');

// Statically calling the key name as a method, utilizing __callStatic magic
$enumInstance = UserType::Administrator();

// Attempt to instantiate a new Enum using the given key or value. Returns null if the Enum cannot be instantiated.
$enumInstance = UserType::coerce($someValue);

If you want your IDE to autocomplete the static instantiation helpers, you can generate PHPDoc annotations through an artisan command.

By default all Enums in app/Enums will be annotated (you can change the folder by passing a path to --folder)

php artisan enum:annotate

You can annotate a single class by specifying the class name

php artisan enum:annotate "App\Enums\UserType"

Instance Properties

Once you have an enum instance, you can access the key, value and description as properties.

$userType = UserType::fromValue(UserType::SuperAdministrator);

$userType->key; // SuperAdministrator
$userType->value; // 0
$userType->description; // Super Administrator

This is particularly useful if you're passing an enum instance to a blade view.

Instance Casting

Enum instances can be cast to strings as they implement the __toString() magic method.
This also means they can be echoed in blade views, for example.

$userType = UserType::fromValue(UserType::SuperAdministrator);

(string) $userType // '0'

Instance Equality

You can check the equality of an instance against any value by passing it to the is method. For convenience, there is also an isNot method which is the exact reverse of the is method.

$admin = UserType::fromValue(UserType::Administrator);

$admin->is(UserType::Administrator);   // true
$admin->is($admin);                    // true
$admin->is(UserType::Administrator()); // true

$admin->is(UserType::Moderator);       // false
$admin->is(UserType::Moderator());     // false
$admin->is('random-value');            // false

You can also check to see if the instance's value matches against an array of possible values using the in method. Iterables can also be checked against.

$admin = UserType::fromValue(UserType::Administrator);

$admin->in([UserType::Moderator, UserType::Administrator]);     // true
$admin->in([UserType::Moderator(), UserType::Administrator()]); // true

$admin->in([UserType::Moderator, UserType::Subscriber]);        // false
$admin->in(['random-value']);                                   // false

Type Hinting

One of the benefits of enum instances is that it enables you to use type hinting, as shown below.

function canPerformAction(UserType $userType)
{
    if ($userType->is(UserType::SuperAdministrator)) {
        return true;
    }

    return false;
}

$userType1 = UserType::fromValue(UserType::SuperAdministrator);
$userType2 = UserType::fromValue(UserType::Moderator);

canPerformAction($userType1); // Returns true
canPerformAction($userType2); // Returns false

Flagged/Bitwise Enum

Standard enums represent a single value at a time, but flagged or bitwise enums are capable of of representing multiple values simultaneously. This makes them perfect for when you want to express multiple selections of a limited set of options. A good example of this would be user permissions where there are a limited number of possible permissions but a user can have none, some or all of them.

You can create a flagged enum using the following artisan command:

php artisan make:enum UserPermissions --flagged

Defining values

When defining values you must use powers of 2, the easiest way to do this is by using the shift left << operator like so:

final class UserPermissions extends FlaggedEnum
{
    const ReadComments      = 1 << 0;
    const WriteComments     = 1 << 1;
    const EditComments      = 1 << 2;
    const DeleteComments    = 1 << 3;
    // The next one would be `1 << 4` and so on...
}

Defining shortcuts

You can use the bitwise or | to set a shortcut value which represents a given set of values.

final class UserPermissions extends FlaggedEnum
{
    const ReadComments      = 1 << 0;
    const WriteComments     = 1 << 1;
    const EditComments      = 1 << 2;
    const DeleteComments    = 1 << 3;
    
    // Shortcuts
    const Member = self::ReadComments | self::WriteComments; // Read and write.
    const Moderator = self::Member | self::EditComments; // All the permissions a Member has, plus Edit.
    const Admin = self::Moderator | self::DeleteComments; // All the permissions a Moderator has, plus Delete.
}

Instantiating a flagged enum

There are couple of ways to instantiate a flagged enum:

// Standard new PHP class, passing the desired enum values as an array of values or array of enum instances
$permissions = new UserPermissions([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::EditComments]);
$permissions = new UserPermissions([UserPermissions::ReadComments(), UserPermissions::EditComments()]);

// Static flags method, again passing the desired enum values as an array of values or array of enum instances
$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::EditComments]);
$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments(), UserPermissions::EditComments()]);

Attribute casting works in the same way as single value enums.

Empty flagged enums

Flagged enums can contain no value at all. Every flagged enum has a pre-defined constant of None which is comparable to 0.

UserPermissions::flags([])->value === UserPermissions::None; // True

Flagged enum methods

In addition to the standard enum methods, there are a suite of helpful methods available on flagged enums.

Note: Anywhere where a static property is passed, you can also pass an enum instance.

setFlags(array $flags): Enum

Set the flags for the enum to the given array of flags.

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments]);
$permissions->flags([UserPermissions::EditComments, UserPermissions::DeleteComments]); // Flags are now: EditComments, DeleteComments.

addFlag($flag): Enum

Add the given flag to the enum

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments]);
$permissions->addFlag(UserPermissions::EditComments); // Flags are now: ReadComments, EditComments.

addFlags(array $flags): Enum

Add the given flags to the enum

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments]);
$permissions->addFlags([UserPermissions::EditComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]); // Flags are now: ReadComments, EditComments, WriteComments.

removeFlag($flag): Enum

Remove the given flag from the enum

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]);
$permissions->removeFlag(UserPermissions::ReadComments); // Flags are now: WriteComments.

removeFlags(array $flags): Enum

Remove the given flags from the enum

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments, UserPermissions::EditComments]);
$permissions->removeFlags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]); // Flags are now: EditComments.

hasFlag($flag): bool

Check if the enum has the specified flag.

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]);
$permissions->hasFlag(UserPermissions::ReadComments); // True
$permissions->hasFlag(UserPermissions::EditComments); // False

hasFlags(array $flags): bool

Check if the enum has all of the specified flags.

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]);
$permissions->hasFlags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]); // True
$permissions->hasFlags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::EditComments]); // False

notHasFlag($flag): bool

Check if the enum does not have the specified flag.

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]);
$permissions->notHasFlag(UserPermissions::EditComments); // True
$permissions->notHasFlag(UserPermissions::ReadComments); // False

notHasFlags(array $flags): bool

Check if the enum doesn't have any of the specified flags.

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]);
$permissions->notHasFlags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::EditComments]); // True
$permissions->notHasFlags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]); // False

getFlags(): Enum[]

Return the flags as an array of instances.

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]);
$permissions->getFlags(); // [UserPermissions::ReadComments(), UserPermissions::WriteComments()];

hasMultipleFlags(): bool

Check if there are multiple flags set on the enum.

$permissions = UserPermissions::flags([UserPermissions::ReadComments, UserPermissions::WriteComments]);
$permissions->hasMultipleFlags(); // True;
$permissions->removeFlag(UserPermissions::ReadComments)->hasMultipleFlags(); // False

getBitmask(): int

Get the bitmask for the enum.

UserPermissions::Member()->getBitmask(); // 11;
UserPermissions::Moderator()->getBitmask(); // 111;
UserPermissions::Admin()->getBitmask(); // 1111;
UserPermissions::DeleteComments()->getBitmask(); // 1000;

Flagged enums in Eloquent queries

To use flagged enums directly in your Eloquent queries, you may use the QueriesFlaggedEnums trait on your model which provides you with the following methods:

hasFlag($column, $flag): Builder

User::hasFlag('permissions', UserPermissions::DeleteComments())->get();

notHasFlag($column, $flag): Builder

User::notHasFlag('permissions', UserPermissions::DeleteComments())->get();

hasAllFlags($column, $flags): Builder

User::hasAllFlags('permissions', [UserPermissions::EditComment(), UserPermissions::ReadComment()])->get();

hasAnyFlags($column, $flags): Builder

User::hasAnyFlags('permissions', [UserPermissions::DeleteComments(), UserPermissions::EditComments()])->get();

Attribute Casting

You may cast model attributes to enums using Laravel 7.x's built in custom casting. This will cast the attribute to an enum instance when getting and back to the enum value when setting. Since Enum::class implements the Castable contract, you just need to specify the classname of the enum:

use BenSampo\Enum\Tests\Enums\UserType;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Example extends Model
{
    protected $casts = [
        'random_flag' => 'boolean',     // Example standard laravel cast
        'user_type' => UserType::class, // Example enum cast
    ];
}

Or you may cast model attributes to enums using the CastsEnums trait. This will cast the attribute to an enum instance when getting and back to the enum value when setting.

use BenSampo\Enum\Traits\CastsEnums;
use BenSampo\Enum\Tests\Enums\UserType;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Example extends Model
{
    use CastsEnums;

    protected $enumCasts = [
        // 'attribute_name' => Enum::class
        'user_type' => UserType::class,
    ];

    /**
     * Existing casts are processed before $enumCasts which can be useful if you're 
     * taking input from forms and your enum values are integers.
     */
    protected $casts = [
        'user_type' => 'int',
    ];
}

Now, when you access the user_type attribute of your Example model, the underlying value will be returned as a UserType enum.

$example = Example::first();
$example->user_type // Instance of UserType

Review the methods and properties available on enum instances to get the most out of attribute casting.

You can set the value by either passing the enum value or another enum instance.

$example = Example::first();

// Set using enum value
$example->user_type = UserType::Moderator;

// Set using enum instance
$example->user_type = UserType::Moderator();

Customising $model->toArray() behaviour

When using toArray (or returning model/models from your controller as a response) Laravel will call the toArray method on the enum instance.

By default, this will return only the value in its native type. You may want to also have access to the other properties (key, description), for example to return to javascript app.

To customise this behaviour, you can override the toArray method on the enum instance.

// Example Enum
final class UserType extends Enum
{
    const ADMINISTRATOR = 0;
    const MODERATOR = 1;
}

$instance = UserType::Moderator();

// Default
public function toArray()
{
    return $this->value;
}
// Returns int(1)

// Return all properties
public function toArray()
{
    return $this;
}
// Returns an array of all the properties
// array(3) {
//  ["value"]=>
//  int(1)"
//  ["key"]=>
//  string(9) "MODERATOR"
//  ["description"]=>
//  string(9) "Moderator"
// }

Casting underlying native types

Many databases return everything as strings (for example, an integer may be returned as the string '1'). To reduce friction for users of the library, we use type coercion to figure out the intended value. If you'd prefer to control this, you can override the parseDatabase static method on your enum class:

final class UserType extends Enum
{
    const Administrator = 0;
    const Moderator = 1;
    
    public static function parseDatabase($value)
    {
        return (int) $value;
    }
}

Returning null from the parseDatabase method will cause the attribute on the model to also be null. This can be useful if your database stores inconsistent blank values such as empty strings instead of NULL.

Model Annotation

If you're using Laravel 7 casting, the laravel-ide-helper package can be used to automatically generate property docblocks for your models.

Migrations

Recommended

Because enums enforce consistency at the code level it's not necessary to do so again at the database level, therefore the recommended type for database columns is string or int depending on your enum values. This means you can add/remove enum values in your code without worrying about your database layer.

use App\Enums\UserType;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

class CreateUsersTable extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table): void {
            $table->bigIncrements('id');
            $table->timestamps();
            $table->string('type')
                ->default(UserType::Moderator);
        });
    }
}

Using enum column type

Alternatively you may use Enum classes in your migrations to define enum columns. The enum values must be defined as strings.

use App\Enums\UserType;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

class CreateUsersTable extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table): void {
            $table->bigIncrements('id');
            $table->timestamps();
            $table->enum('type', UserType::getValues())
                ->default(UserType::Moderator);
        });
    }
}

Validation

Array Validation

Enum value

You may validate that an enum value passed to a controller is a valid value for a given enum by using the EnumValue rule.

use BenSampo\Enum\Rules\EnumValue;

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $this->validate($request, [
        'user_type' => ['required', new EnumValue(UserType::class)],
    ]);
}

By default, type checking is set to strict, but you can bypass this by passing false to the optional second parameter of the EnumValue class.

new EnumValue(UserType::class, false) // Turn off strict type checking.

Enum key

You can also validate on keys using the EnumKey rule. This is useful if you're taking the enum key as a URL parameter for sorting or filtering for example.

use BenSampo\Enum\Rules\EnumKey;

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $this->validate($request, [
        'user_type' => ['required', new EnumKey(UserType::class)],
    ]);
}

Enum instance

Additionally you can validate that a parameter is an instance of a given enum.

use BenSampo\Enum\Rules\Enum;

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $this->validate($request, [
        'user_type' => ['required', new Enum(UserType::class)],
    ]);
}

Pipe Validation

You can also use the 'pipe' syntax for rules.

enum_value:enum_class,[strict]
enum_key:enum_class
enum:enum_class

'user_type' => 'required|enum_value:' . UserType::class,
'user_type' => 'required|enum_key:' . UserType::class,
'user_type' => 'required|enum:' . UserType::class,

Localization

Validation messages

Run the following command to publish the language files to your resources/lang folder.

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="BenSampo\Enum\EnumServiceProvider" --tag="translations"

Enum descriptions

You can translate the strings returned by the getDescription method using Laravel's built in localization features.

Add a new enums.php keys file for each of your supported languages. In this example there is one for English and one for Spanish.

// resources/lang/en/enums.php
<?php

use App\Enums\UserType;

return [

    UserType::class => [
        UserType::Administrator => 'Administrator',
        UserType::SuperAdministrator => 'Super administrator',
    ],

];

// resources/lang/es/enums.php
<?php

use App\Enums\UserType;

return [

    UserType::class => [
        UserType::Administrator => 'Administrador',
        UserType::SuperAdministrator => 'Súper administrador',
    ],

];

Now, you just need to make sure that your enum implements the LocalizedEnum interface as demonstrated below:

use BenSampo\Enum\Enum;
use BenSampo\Enum\Contracts\LocalizedEnum;

final class UserType extends Enum implements LocalizedEnum
{
    // ...
}

The getDescription method will now look for the value in your localization files. If a value doesn't exist for a given key, the default description is returned instead.

Overriding the getDescription method

If you'd like to return a custom value from the getDescription method, you may do so by overriding the method on your enum:

public static function getDescription($value): string
{
    if ($value === self::SuperAdministrator) {
        return 'Super admin';
    }

    return parent::getDescription($value);
}

Calling UserType::getDescription(3); now returns Super admin instead of Super administator.

Extending the Enum Base Class

The Enum base class implements the Laravel Macroable trait, meaning it's easy to extend it with your own functions. If you have a function that you often add to each of your enums, you can use a macro.

Let's say we want to be able to get a flipped version of the enum asArray method, we can do this using:

Enum::macro('asFlippedArray', function() {
    return array_flip(self::asArray());
});

Now, on each of my enums, I can call it using UserType::asFlippedArray().

It's best to register the macro inside of a service providers' boot method.

Laravel Nova Integration

Use the nova-enum-field package by Simple Squid to easily create fields for your Enums in Nova. See their readme for usage.

PHPStan integration

If you are using PHPStan for static analysis, you can enable the extension for proper recognition of the magic instantiation methods.

Add the following to your projects phpstan.neon includes:

includes:
- vendor/bensampo/laravel-enum/extension.neon

Artisan Command List

php artisan make:enum
Create a new enum class. Pass --flagged as an option to create a flagged enum.
Find out more

php artisan enum:annotate
Generate DocBlock annotations for enum classes.
Find out more

Enum Class Reference

static getKeys(): array

Returns an array of the keys for an enum.

UserType::getKeys(); // Returns ['Administrator', 'Moderator', 'Subscriber', 'SuperAdministrator']

static getValues(): array

Returns an array of the values for an enum.

UserType::getValues(); // Returns [0, 1, 2, 3]

static getKey(mixed $value): string

Returns the key for the given enum value.

UserType::getKey(1); // Returns 'Moderator'
UserType::getKey(UserType::Moderator); // Returns 'Moderator'

static getValue(string $key): mixed

Returns the value for the given enum key.

UserType::getValue('Moderator'); // Returns 1

static hasKey(string $key): bool

Check if the enum contains a given key.

UserType::hasKey('Moderator'); // Returns 'True'

static hasValue(mixed $value, bool $strict = true): bool

Check if the enum contains a given value.

UserType::hasValue(1); // Returns 'True'

// It's possible to disable the strict type checking:
UserType::hasValue('1'); // Returns 'False'
UserType::hasValue('1', false); // Returns 'True'

static getDescription(mixed $value): string

Returns the key in sentence case for the enum value. It's possible to override the getDescription method to return custom descriptions.

UserType::getDescription(3); // Returns 'Super administrator'
UserType::getDescription(UserType::SuperAdministrator); // Returns 'Super administrator'

static getRandomKey(): string

Returns a random key from the enum. Useful for factories.

UserType::getRandomKey(); // Returns 'Administrator', 'Moderator', 'Subscriber' or 'SuperAdministrator'

static getRandomValue(): mixed

Returns a random value from the enum. Useful for factories.

UserType::getRandomValue(); // Returns 0, 1, 2 or 3

static getRandomInstance(): mixed

Returns a random instance of the enum. Useful for factories.

UserType::getRandomInstance(); // Returns an instance of UserType with a random value

static asArray(): array

Returns the enum key value pairs as an associative array.

UserType::asArray(); // Returns ['Administrator' => 0, 'Moderator' => 1, 'Subscriber' => 2, 'SuperAdministrator' => 3]

static asSelectArray(): array

Returns the enum for use in a select as value => description.

UserType::asSelectArray(); // Returns [0 => 'Administrator', 1 => 'Moderator', 2 => 'Subscriber', 3 => 'Super administrator']

static fromValue(mixed $enumValue): Enum

Returns an instance of the called enum. Read more about enum instantiation.

UserType::fromValue(UserType::Administrator); // Returns instance of Enum with the value set to UserType::Administrator

static getInstances(): array

Returns an array of all possible instances of the called enum, keyed by the constant names.

var_dump(UserType::getInstances());

array(4) {
  'Administrator' =>
  class BenSampo\Enum\Tests\Enums\UserType#415 (3) {
    public $key =>
    string(13) "Administrator"
    public $value =>
    int(0)
    public $description =>
    string(13) "Administrator"
  }
  'Moderator' =>
  class BenSampo\Enum\Tests\Enums\UserType#396 (3) {
    public $key =>
    string(9) "Moderator"
    public $value =>
    int(1)
    public $description =>
    string(9) "Moderator"
  }
  'Subscriber' =>
  class BenSampo\Enum\Tests\Enums\UserType#393 (3) {
    public $key =>
    string(10) "Subscriber"
    public $value =>
    int(2)
    public $description =>
    string(10) "Subscriber"
  }
  'SuperAdministrator' =>
  class BenSampo\Enum\Tests\Enums\UserType#102 (3) {
    public $key =>
    string(18) "SuperAdministrator"
    public $value =>
    int(3)
    public $description =>
    string(19) "Super administrator"
  }
}

static coerce(mixed $enumKeyOrValue): ?Enum

Attempt to instantiate a new Enum using the given key or value. Returns null if the Enum cannot be instantiated.

UserType::coerce(0); // Returns instance of UserType with the value set to UserType::Administrator
UserType::coerce('Administrator'); // Returns instance of UserType with the value set to UserType::Administrator
UserType::coerce(99); // Returns null (not a valid enum value)

Stubs

Run the following command to publish the stub files to the stubs folder in the root of your application.

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="BenSampo\Enum\EnumServiceProvider" --tag="stubs"